Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with improved ball cap designs wherein the bills thereof include eyeglass-retaining slots permitting the wearer to temporarily store eyeglasses on the cap bill without fear of loss or breakage of the eyeglasses. More particularly, the invention is concerned with modified caps wherein the bills are slotted, with or without additional eyeglass-retainer structure, in such a way as to detachably retain the eyeglasses against inadvertent dislodgement.
Description of the Prior Art
Ball cap wearers often also wear eyeglasses, either vision-correcting eyeglasses or sunglasses. It is quite common for cap wearers, when they are not using the eyeglasses, to place the eyeglasses with the lower margins of the lenses thereof on top of the cap bill, with the eyeglass temples extending rearwardly along the sides of the cap. As long as the wearer does not significantly move his or her head or bend over, this arrangement is satisfactory. However, when such a cap wearer significantly moves his or her head, the supported eyeglasses can easily fall off of the cap, leading to loss or breakage of the eyeglasses. Therefore, it would be desirable to be provide some means of temporarily retaining eyeglasses on ball caps.
A number of efforts along these lines have been made in the past. In many cases, means have been provided for retaining the eyeglass temples against the sides of the ball caps, in the form of elastic retainers or the like. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,866,813 and 8,381,359 describe variations on this concept. Other references include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,185,748, 6,244,706, 6,644,807, 6,647,554, 7,485,845, and 7,979,920, U.S. Patent Publications Nos. 2006/0152671, 2011/0012343, and 2011/0078843, and PCT Publication Nos. WO 2011091679 and WO 2012/046150.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,703,153 describes a combination hat and eyeglass arrangement, wherein a cap bill is provided with a large continuous slot adjacent the dome of the cap. This slot is sized and configured to allow the wearer to selectively move the pivotally attached eyeglasses between an upper storage position and a lower use position where the lenses cover the wearer's eyes. This apparatus prevents fine adjustment of the eyeglasses, as is often needed to properly wear eyeglasses. Moreover, the pivotal attachment of the eyeglasses to the cap requires rather complicated steps to detach the eyeglasses for normal use.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,904,970 is also directed to a cap with eyeglass-holding structure, in the form of side-mounted temple retainers and a forward, bill-mounted flair, which extends upwardly from the upper surface of the bill. As such, the flair detracts from the appearance of the cap and can impede viewing of a logo or the like on the crown of the cap. Moreover, the use of specialized temple mounts further detracts from the appearance of the cap.
There is therefore a need in the art for an improved cap design which preserves the well-known and accepted appearance of a ball cap, while at the same time affording a means of readily and safely retaining eyeglasses on the cap bill, so that the eyeglasses may be temporarily stored on the bill and readily donned as desired by the wearer.